Gramatica is just about the nicest Instagram-browser app I have yet seen. It’s essential on the iPad mini, on which the official Instagram app looks hideous thanks to the mini’s refusal to display Retina assets. And on the iPhone it’s even better than the Instagram app, thanks to its full-width pictures and fantastic gestural controls.

On the iPad, Gramatica shows you a grid of photos. On the left edge is a menu, letting you search, manage your (multiple) accounts and even launch the Instagram app (to take photos). Tap a picture to view full-screen, and tap on the various symbols below the pictures (location, comments, likes and user) to be reveal the relevant info as if it were under the photograph (for user profiles, you get taken to a new page).

On the iPhone it’s even better. The default view is much like Instagram’s only the pictures stretch to the screen edges an the background is dark gray. Tapping the icons gets you to comments and likes, just like the iPAd version, but swiping left and right on the picture reveals either a grid view of your timeline or the filter/search options, as if they were underneath the main timeline.

It’s very neat, and a really great (and intuitive) use of gestures.

IT’s just a shame that none of these apps can actually post to Instagram, meaning that you need to keep the official app handy. Or not, I guess: with Gramatica you can – as I mentioned above – open the Instagram app via a short cut. Which means that you can go ahead and put it in that folder of crap along with Apple’s stock apps.